Baseball’s unwritten rules marred the end of Minnesota’s 13-6 win over the Rangers Thursday night, and it’s again led to debate about what’s right and wrong in a children’s game played by adults making millions of dollars.
Leading 13-5 in the ninth inning, Twins outfielder Jake Cave swung at a 3-0 pitch and ripped it to right field for a single.
That’s a no-no in baseball because it’s apparently the equivalent of kicking someone while they’re down, and Rangers pitcher Shawn Kelley, 35, subscribes to the old school rules.
The next batter was Max Kepler, who Kelley fell behind 3-0 and then drilled him in the shoulder with a 93 mph fastball.
Tom Froemming of Twins Daily captured it all and posted the video, and radio audio, to Twitter.
Here's some of the conversation from both the #MNTwins TV and radio broadcasts regarding the Jake Cave 3-0 hit and the Max Kepler hit by pitch that followed. pic.twitter.com/uqx1MWyOPY
— Tom Froemming (@TFTwins) August 16, 2019
“That was on purpose,” said Fox Sports North broadcaster Roy Smalley.
But if you watch the video closely you can see Cave react as if he didn’t know the count was 3-0 when he swung. So really, the Rangers elected to throw a hard ball as hard as they could at a guy who had nothing to do with the situation.
Man, if only the count was 2-0 when Cave swung the bat. That’d make everything different, because it’s, like, you know, totally different.
Regardless, Kepler took the beaning like an adult, dropping his bat and jogging to first base without staring down the pitcher or making the situation worse.
